Gary Vaynerchuk is famously known as an Internet entrepreneur, marketing expert, angel investor and author. What many may not know is that Vaynerchuk’s passion for business was largely inspired by his avid collecting and trading of baseball cards as a child growing up in New Jersey.
From a young age, Gary’s father owned a convenience store called Vaynerchuk’s Wine Cellars in Edison, NJ and would frequently take his sons to card shows with him on the weekends. It was at these local card shows that Gary first became captivated by the business and social aspects of collecting cards. He admired how traders and dealers negotiated deals and valued different players and grades of condition. He was intrigued by how supply and demand influenced the prices of certain cards.
Gary took his passion seriously from a young age, organizing his massive baseball card collection in meticulous binders sorted by team, player last name and even specific stats like home runs or batting average. He read every player’s bio and stats on the back of each card to learn as much about them as possible. This helped him determine the relative value of cards to use in trades. He aimed to complete full sets of particular years, teams and specific insert sets.
By his early teens in the late 1980s, Gary had accumulated a collection worth thousands of dollars that he continued upgrading by wheeling and dealing at card shows. At just 13 years old, he bought his first luxury car – a used Mercedes – by flipping and trading cards. He understood supply and demand dynamics better than most adult collectors. He realized certain rookie cards like Ken Griffey Jr. or Donruss Deion Sanders had huge potential to appreciate in value.
Throughout high school in the early 90s, Gary’s card portfolio continued growing exponentially through strategic investments and trades at shows. He treated it like a serious part-time business, keeping detailed records of his inventory and transactions. Word of his successful picking and trading spread in the collecting community. Dealers sought him out knowing he had a keen eye for value. He parlayed his card profits into other investments and used earnings to pay for college.
By the late 90s, Gary had amassed a multi-million dollar collection including some of the most coveted cards ever produced. Highlights included a rare 1909 Honus Wagner T206 tobacco card PSA MINT 9 graded gem, multiple Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards, and a collection of near-perfect graded vintage Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams cards. Space constraints led him to downsize part of his collection, but he still holds onto prized pieces for nostalgia and investment purposes today.
While pursuing his business career after college atvknd graduate school, Gary never lost touch with his baseball card roots. He remained a collector at heart, attending shows a few times per year. He focused on high-end vintage cards like T206s, 1950s Mantles and 1960s dynasty Yankees that continued appreciating substantially. As a wealthy entrepreneur, he could afford the best of the best pieces to round out collections.
In the late 2000s, Gary noticed parallels between his early baseball card experiences and passions, and opportunities emerging in digital marketing and social media. He saw how brands could use platforms like YouTube and Instagram to economically reach massive audiences with fun, engaging content. In 2009, he launched his daily “Wine Library TV” show episodically reviewing different wines to almost instant success. The following year in 2010, he founded VaynerMedia, one of the first dedicated social media agencies.
Today, Gary is a globally renowned digital marketing pioneer, public speaker and best-selling author. He openly acknowledges his roots in the baseball card game as hugely formative for his business acumen and competitive spirit. He still drops references to cards in talks whenever possible. In 2021, he published his memoir “Crushing It!” where a whole chapter is dedicated to recounting colorful trade stories and lessons learned collecting as a kid.
While Gary doesn’t actively collect today to the scale he once did, his passion remains. He still owns prized pieces from his heyday, which have grown exponentially more valuable through the decades. Recent estimates value his remaining collection conservatively in the tens of millions of dollars. He continues advocating for cards as an alternative asset class investment especially for Gen Z looking to diversify portfolios. Baseball cards helped shape Gary into the ambitious, savvy entrepreneur he is today. And they’ll likely always hold a special place in his life and legacy going forward.
